As this year comes to an end, we reflect on the many successes we have seen here at BJA and in the field. While our country continues to struggle financially, we at BJA continue our steadfast commitment to ensuring as many resources as possible are made available to support all aspects of the criminal justice system. In FY 2011, we released nearly 40 competitive and formula solicitations and distributed more than $1 billion in funding to state, local, and tribal jurisdictions for a variety of criminal justice initiatives. We are pleased to announce that on November 18, the President signed into law a consolidated FY 2012 "Minibus" appropriations act, which included approximately $1.08 billion appropriated for BJA programs. The passing of the budget is a positive step for the nation's criminal justice community as it enables BJA to begin its funding solicitation and program planning process. There are several new initiatives that received funding that will provide new and critical support in key areas of the criminal justice system: a national officer safety training and technical assistance programPreventing Violence Against Law Enforcement and Ensuring Officer Resilience and Survivability Initiative (VALOR)that will support a wide range of multi-level training that will promote a culture of safety within agencies and personnel and, ultimately, save officers' lives; the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program, which will support place-based, data-driven projects to build and enhance the capacity of communities to create comprehensive strategies to address crime problems; and Smart Probation, which will support state, local, and tribal authorities develop more effective and evidence-based parole and probation programs that effectively address offender needs and reduce recidivism.

New Education Campaign Announced
On November 30, the Attorney General and BJA, in collaboration with the National Crime Prevention Council, announced a new public education campaign to combat the purchase and sale of counterfeit and pirated products. For more information about intellectual property theft, visit: www.ncpc.org/topics/intellectual-property-theft.

The Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery nomination period opened December 15. Enacted in 2008, the Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery Act honors federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officers for exceptional acts of bravery while in the line of duty. Nominations are due by February 15, 2012.

Enacted in 1976, the Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) Program provides death, disability, and education benefits to those eligible for the program. For details regarding these federal benefits for law enforcement officers, firefighters, and first responders killed or catastrophically disabled in the line of duty, call the PSOB Office toll-free at 8887446513 or 2023070635, or visit the PSOB web site.

BJA has begun releasing solicitations for this fiscal year (see below), but we encourage you to also explore other types of services available through BJA and our network of partners such as the National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC). We will be making many enhancements to NTTAC over the next several months. We will continue to offer core TTA services, which include onsite technical assistance, training, information dissemination, and intensive technical assistance, but will also implement several enhancements which will result in greater collaboration among BJA grantees, strong partnerships with the field, and greater emphasis on research-driven solutions and TTA services.

BJA continues to support the development of consensus-based national standards, known as Prescription Monitoring Information Exchange (PMIX) specifications, to enable state Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) to share data. In order to ensure standards are acceptable to states engaging in interstate data exchanges and to ensure a state's ability to remain flexible and reduce costs, BJA has recently released the PMIX National Architecture. The architecture is a formal set of technical requirements that existing and future interstate data hubs need to comply with to enable hub-to-hub communication. The PMIX National Architecture allows for a state to choose a hub which meets the needs of their state, while providing the state with the confidence and assurance that the hub will be capable of facilitating data sharing with another state that has chosen a different hub. For more information about this exciting development, visit: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ BJA/grant/prescripdrugs.html.